Mendacity
by Leana-Vine
Summary: (A Ghost Adventures fic) When the crew goes to Sticks, Utah, a small ghost town forgotten to most of the world, they discover there's more than one reason it's called a "ghost town." People act like they don't want to talk about ghosts. Zak/OC. Rated T for language, violence, and possible "romantic" scenes.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Here's a new story I hope all you guys will enjoy. I've never written a Ghost Adventures story before, so I hope it's quality. Also, I hope the way I portray people from Utah is okay. All I know about Utah, I learned online.

Okay, please read, review and enjoy!

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

_Off Camera_

_9:38 am, Tuesday, Unspecified date_

The Ghost Adventures Crew was just arriving in the small town of Sticks, Utah, where they would be filming their newest investigation. Sticks was a mostly abandoned ghost town with a population of 546 residents. It contained one courthouse, two churches, a few other small businesses, and two hotels. The oldest of these hotels, Marley's Hotel, was the site of their newest paranormal investigation.

The GAC parked at Dusty Roads, the newer, not haunted hotel where they would be staying for the duration of their visit. As Aaron Goodwin unloaded their bags from the back of the van, Zak Bagans, leader of the crew, stepped out, letting the dust stir up under his black boots.

Zak let out a whistle. "Geez, it's hot here."

Nick Groff shot him a smirk. "Regretting wearing nothing but all black yet, Zak?"

Zak shook his head, wiping his brow on his forearm. "Never. Heat's good. Keeps me from getting chunky."

Aaron laughed. "Yeah, that'd make it hard to chase down ghosts." He pulled out the last of their luggage that didn't contain ghost equipment. "Hey, any time you guys feel like it, I'd like to get out of this sun and go inside." He picked up the bags that were his and started towards the all wooden, two-story building.

Nick picked up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "Any chance you think they have air conditioning in there?" He looked to Zak, who was staring out at the horizon, being unusually quiet. "Zak? You okay?"

Zak was silent for a moment more, before turning back to Nick and walking over to pick up his bags. "I'm fine. Just thinking. I've got a good feeling about this place, like it'll be a real, genuine ghost town."

He and Nick walked into the hotel together. As they walked through the door, they groaned simultaneously when they weren't hit with a cool burst of air.

"No air conditioning. That's great, really swell," remarked Zak in a sarcastic and exhausted voice. "It felt nicer in the van."

Aaron turned to them from where he was standing at the counter, confirming their reservation. "Then maybe you'd prefer to sleep out there. There's somethin' funky going on with the computer."

The middle-aged woman behind the computer furiously clicked the mouse and pounded her fingers on the keyboard. "That's so strange, this compu'er never gives me any problems."

"If it's as old as this town, it probably just decided to finally go kaput," Nick said as he sat down his bag and stretched his arms. He was still pretty stiff from the long ride up. "Or maybe the ghosts just don't want us here."

The woman behind the counter smiled. "I'm sure i's fine. You can go ahead and go on up to your rooms. I'm assuming' you reserved three?"

Aaron smiled at her, saying jokingly, "No, we actually rented two. Those two over there are a couple."

Zak jokingly punched Aaron in the arm. "Goofball." They both laughed, and the woman behind the counter seemed not to care.

She reached for three keys with room number tags attached to each. "Here're your keys. I hope you enjoy your stay."

Zak looked at his key, bemused. "Wow, an actual key. I'm just used to seeing cards." He gave a smile to the woman and said, "Thank you, umm…"

"Margery," she said back to him, and she shook his hand.

"Thank you, Margery. We'll try not to be too much trouble to you."

"Do you want me to take a look at your computer?" Aaron asked politely. If anyone could fix it, it was him.

Margery laughed a little and shook her head. "Oh, I'm sure i's fine, dear. But thank ya."

With that, the crew headed upstairs to find their rooms. Inside each, everything was old Western style. The furniture and beds looked like they could've been from the 1800's.

"Dude, isn't this supposed to be the newer hotel?" Nick asked Zak from across the hall.

Zak shrugged at him and then started to unpack, laying out his things on the bed. He checked inventory, even though there was no real reason why anything should be missing. Sometimes Zak could be slightly OCD and paranoid. After he was sure that everything was there, he moved his things into the drawers of the old dresser in his room. The mirror attached to it was fogged up and dusty, as if it'd been sitting in an attic for a few years. He smiled a little at it, really enjoying how rustic everything here was.

Everyone unpacked and then headed back downstairs. They were all pretty hungry. The last place they'd eaten was at a McDonalds at 2 that morning.

"Say, Margery," Zak asked politely, "do you know of any good places to eat at around here? We're all starving."

She chuckled and nodded. "There's a diner jus' down the road with a big saloon sign ou' front. Order anything' but the fish."

That made them all laugh, and they thanked Margery as they left. Aaron decided to stop by the van on their way out and grab one of their cameras and a mic. He checked to make sure the battery was charged and then they set out.

* * *

_On Camera_

_10:09 am, Tuesday, Unspecified date_

Zak walked backwards so he could talk to the camera. "We're here in Sticks, Utah to investigate Marley's Hotel, a building that's over two hundred years old. It's been said this this ghost town really does still harbor some lost souls after all this time. And the most favorite place for all these wandering souls is Marley's Hotel. Later we're going to be conducting our lockdown there, but first, we're all pretty hungry, so we're going to get something to eat."

They continued on to the diner, and Zak was happy to see it had classic swinging doors. He pushed through them dramatically, and posed like a cowboy upon entry, raising laughter out of Aaron and Nick. Their laughter caused the only waitress to look up. She wore classic-themed attire of a red and white dress that came just under her knees, an apron, and cowboy boots. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back in loose ponytail.

The waitress approached them with a smile that faded when she saw Aaron's camera. "Hello there, gentleman. Uh, what's he doing with a video camera?"

"Oh, well we're from TV. We have a show on the Travel Channel called Ghost Adventures. See, we hunt ghosts," Zak explained.

"Well, there are no ghosts in this diner," the waitress replied, a slightly apprehensive smile on her face. "So why don't you go look for your ghosts somewhere else. I don't think the manager would like you having a camera in here."

"We can turn the camera off," Zak told her, giving Aaron a look, who immediately turned it off and held it to his side.

_Off Camera_

_10:15 am, Tuesday, Unspecified date_

"I'm sorry, we're just here to eat. We're not looking for ghosts yet." Zak gave a small smile. "Is it okay if we eat here, miss…?"

She was quiet for a minute, then pressed her lips to a line. "Sandra. And I can let you eat here if you don't use that camera. If you film in here, my boss might get mad."

"Not a problem," Aaron said, hiding the camera in his shirt, jokingly.

That got Sandra to smile a little, only for a second, then it faded. "Why don't you guys sit down at a table and I'll bring you your menus." She walked away and they took their seats at a table near the front windows.

"She's nice, huh?" Aaron asked sarcastically as he set his camera beside him on the floor.

Zak shrugged. "She's not that bad. She could've thrown us out."

Sandra was back quickly with their menus and handed them each one. "We have one special today, the steak is half off. What'll you be drinking this morning?"

"I'll take root beer if you have it," answered Aaron.

"Water for me, thanks," said Nick.

Zak thought about his answer for a second. "Do you have orange juice?"

"Yes we do. Fresh squeezed," replied Sandra, staring at her tiny notepad.

"Then that's what I'll have."

She scribbled that down on her pad, then Sandra looked at them all. "Okay, gentlemen, I'll be back in a moment with your drinks."

When she walked away, Aaron looked around the diner. "There's no one else here."

"I wonder how much business they actually get," Nick said, thinking out loud.

"We have to leave her a big tip, you know, to make up for the whole camera thing before," Zak told them, not letting it go up for debate.

Aaron smiled. "Or maybe you just like her."

Zak gave him a look like 'what the hell are you talking about.' "Uh, no, she's just nice, okay?" He crossed his arms.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, Zak. She's pretty," Nick said.

Aaron laughed. "Yeah, she kinda looks like Scarlett Johansson."

Zak punched him in the arm again. "Dude, don't make fun of her just because she made you put your camera away."

Sandra came back with their drinks on a tray and distributed them respectively. "Root beer for the camera man, water for the small guy, and orange juice for black boots."

Aaron and Nick held back their laughter as Zak looked at his boots. "Is there something wrong with my boots?"

Sandra smiled a little and shook her head, pursing her lips. "No, nothing that I can see." She pulled out her notepad. "Have you all decided what you're having?"

"No, crap," Aaron said, looking in his menu for the first time. He'd been too busy teasing Zak to think about what he wanted.

Nick gave her a small nod, and she got ready to take down his order. "I'll just have a burger and fries. Usual toppings." He handed her his menu.

As she tucked his menu under her arm, she asked, "Okay, and what do you want with your fries?"

He looked at her questioningly. "Like what do you mean?"

She glanced up at him from her notepad. "Like, do you want fry sauce or ketchup or what?"

He smiled a little, kind of confused, and Aaron laughed a little. "What's fry sauce?"

She crossed her arms as she explained. "Fry sauce is kind of a signature food to Utah. It's a mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise, pickle relish and a few other things."

Nick frowned slightly at the thought, then shook his head. "Umm, no thanks. I'll just have regular ketchup."

"Yeah, I'll have what he's having, but give me the fry sauce stuff," Aaron added, handing her his menu.

Sandra tucked Aaron's menu under her arm, taking down his order, then she turned to Zak. "And what'll it be for you, black boots?"

He looked at her questioningly. "Do you serve breakfast here?"

She nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, but you'd know that if any of you took the time to actually look at your menus."

Zak smiled a little back at her with a short chuckle. "What kind of breakfast do you have? Anything with fry sauce?"

She squinted at him for a moment, noticing he was mocking her. Revenge for the boots nickname, no doubt. "We have eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, the usual. I guess you could have fry sauce if you got hash browns. Utah's also known for its scones."

He gave her a nod, handing her his menu. "Then I'll take a scone."

She tucked his menu under her arm with the others, jotting down his order. "Would you like some raspberry jam with those? We're kind of famous for a raspberries, too."

"Well you're just famous for a lot of things, aren't you?" He nodded. "I'll have famous jam with my famous scone."

She took the last note then walked away. Zak looked at Nick and Aaron, who were giving him smiles and cocked eyebrows.

"Okay, maybe I like her a little bit."

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, first chapter's over. Zak's pretty cute, isn't he? I think he is. Did you ever see the episode where he's at that hospital built by nuns and the ghosts don't like tattoos so he takes his shirt off to show his tattoos? Oh, I like that one… Anyway, I'll end this before things get too creepy. Too late?

Please send me your thoughts on this. I love getting reviews unless they're mean. I'm open to criticism, not bullying. Okay, thanks guys.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Here's the next chapter.

Please read, review and enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Two

* * *

_Off Camera_

_10:58 am, Tuesday, Unspecified date_

The Ghost Adventures Crew was enjoying their food. Aaron actually seemed to really like the fry sauce. When Nick tried to steal some off his plate with one of his own fries, Aaron slapped his hand away.

"You didn't want the fry sauce, so you miss out, buckaroo," he said, chomping down a fry covered in the pink sauce.

"How can you guys eat burgers so early in the day? It's still breakfast time," asked Zak. "This scone is amazing." Now he could see why they were so famous.

"Guess we're just weirdos, Zak," retorted Nick with a mouthful of burger.

"Yeah, that's why we hunt ghosts," added Aaron, raising a fry in the air that was coated with fry sauce like it was the Excalibur.

* * *

Sandra came back when they were almost finished and pulled out her notepad again. "Would you guys like any dessert? We have a beautiful raspberry pie that the chef just pulled out of the oven."

They all shook their heads, groaning at how full they already were. "Thank you so much, though, it was all very delicious," Nick said, patting Aaron's belly, which he was intentionally pudging out to look super huge.

She nodded at them, then tore off their check, putting it in the middle of the table. "Good luck on the _ghost hunt_, gentlemen."

Zak pulled out his wallet. "Uh, do you take credit cards? The show's kinda supposed to pay for where we sleep and eat."

Sandra shook her head. "No, sorry. But we do have an ATM at the bank down the street. Not sure if that thing works anymore, though. You could try it."

Zak stood. "Alright, I'll go take care of that. You guys just sit tight here, okay?" Nick and Aaron gave him thumbs up. As if they'd be able to move right now.

As Zak was walking out, another woman dressed exactly like Sandra walked in. "Hey, Sandy, ready to switch ou'? Don' wanna be late."

Sandra nodded, saying, "Thanks, Mindy. I almost lost track of time. We actually had customers today." She walked up to Mindy and put a hand on her shoulder. "Watch them, okay? They haven't paid yet, but their friend's going to the ATM. He should be right back." Mindy gave her a nod, then Sandra was on her way out.

Zak was waiting for her outside. "You just change out shifts whenever around here?"

Sandra looked at him, surprised to see him standing there. "Oh, well this is when I go pick up my daughter from her grandma's. That's where she stays when I work nights."

"Oh, you have a daughter." For some reason unknown to himself, Zak felt almost downhearted to think that she was probably married with children. "Does your husband work nights, too?"

Sandra laughed a little. "Well, he might, but I don't know where. My husband walked out on me when he found out I was pregnant."

Zak's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude."

Sandra shook a hand, waving it away. "It's okay, really. It doesn't bother me anymore. We're better off."

He smiled slightly at her, then he was quiet, thinking of what to say. "Uh, well, hey, I don't really know where the bank is. Is it on the way to your mom's house? Maybe you could show me where it is? -The bank, not your mom's house, I mean."

Sandra nodded. "Yeah, I'd be glad to. We don't get many new people around here." She started walking and Zak walked with her. "So, do you have a name, or do I just need to call you black boots all the time?"

Zak smiled at her. "Well, as much as I like you calling me that, no, I do have a name. I'm Zak Bagans."

"Like Bilbo Baggins?" Sandra asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Zak laughed. "Yeah, I'm a regular Hobbit. Sorry, I just didn't expect you to know that movie."

"Why would you think that?"

He laughed again, nervously this time. "Well, I wasn't sure if you guys even had TV out here. I haven't seen one since I got here. There wasn't a TV in any of our hotel rooms."

Sandra smiled a little. "We don't have any. But I've read the book. Do you know what books are? Or do you only have TV where you're from?"

Zak laughed again, and Sandra laughed a little too, although she tried to hide it by covering her mouth with one hand. He really liked the sound of her laugh. It sounded really nice, almost carefree. Sandra seemed like she had too many stresses to be carefree, though. It must be hard being a single mother.

Sandra pointed at the bank when it was in sight. "It's over there. The ATM is inside. Hopefully it still works. I hope you have back up cash."

Zak nodded a little. "Yeah, I really don't mind paying with my own money, it's just that I'm not supposed to do that. Part of how they pay us is buying our food and paying for our hotel rooms and gas."

"I understand," Sandra replied. She looked down at the ground, kicking up a little dust with her left foot, not really knowing what to say.

Zak broke the silence between them. "Hey, umm, do you think maybe later we could ask you a few questions on camera about Marley's Hotel? That's where we're doing our lockdown, and we like to get testimonies from townspeople. And since you're one of the only townspeople I've seen, it'd be nice if we could get you on record."

Sandra thought about it and nodded. "Okay. I'm not sure if I'll be able to tell you much. My mom might be able to, though. She knows more about this place than I do."

Zak smiled kind of big. "Great, that'd be nice. Okay, well I gotta go pay for our food. Umm, I guess I'll meet you back at the diner?"

Sandra nodded. "Sure. I'll see you there soon." She gave him a parting smile, then walked a different way.

Zak watched her for a bit, then remembered what he was supposed to be doing and made his way to the bank. Thankfully, the ATM was still in working condition, but it took a really long time. Zak had never seen anything like it. This must've been one of the first ATM's ever made or something. "This place is older than I thought."

After getting his money, Zak walked back to the diner. He still didn't see anyone out on the streets, and it spooked him a bit. He'd never done a lock down in a place this deserted before. He hoped they'd be able to find enough people for good testimonies. Maybe Margery knew something about Marley's Hotel.

* * *

Aaron and Nick looked like they were going to die of boredom by the time Zak returned. Aaron groaned as he sat up. "Dude, where have you been? That took you forever."

Zak cocked an eyebrow at him. "I couldn't have been gone for more than 15 minutes. The ATM is prehistoric. It took me a while to operate it."

Aaron knocked the straw off Nick's nose that he'd been balancing for almost nine minutes. "Come on, Houdini, time to get out of here."

Nick raised his hands in the air like 'what the heck'? "I'm pretty sure Houdini didn't balance stuff on his nose." He stood and pushed in his chair, wooden legs screeching against wooden floor boards.

Aaron shook his head in an attempt to get the ringing out of his ears as he picked up his camera. "Can we start filming now?"

* * *

_On Camera_

_11:24 am, Tuesday, Unspecified date_

Aaron took different shots of the old, wooden buildings that sat almost wall-to-wall stretching down the roads. "This place is just like the old Western movies. Sweet." He pointed the camera at Zak.

"So far, we haven't seen many residents of the town of Sticks. We've seen Margery, the manager of the hotel we're staying at, Sandra and Mindy, who are waitresses at the diner here, and the old man who works at the bank." He smiled. "Let's hope they've all got some really compelling ghost stories."

They walked around town, looking in different shops and asking the people who worked in the ones that weren't abandoned if they'd seen any ghost activity. Most of them had the same story: that they'd never actually stayed at Marley's Hotel, but they'd heard of people being touched and pinched, and that sometimes objects would be moved. Some even said that they'd been told stories of Marley's Hotel by their parents growing up.

After interviewing a few people, they headed back to the diner, where Sandra was sitting at a table inside. She had changed out of her uniform into a yellow sundress and let her hair down. She kept the cowboy boots, though, and somehow Zak found that charming. With her was a little girl who looked to be about four years old. She had brown hair in pigtail braids and little overalls and a white t-shirt. She was running around, pretending to ride a pony.

Zak smiled at them. "Hello again."

The little girl looked at him, and stopped her "pony," pulling on it's imaginary reins. "Woah, woah horsey."

Sandra stood, taking her daughter's hand in her own. "This is Alice. Alice, this is Zak and his friends, uh…" She had never learned the names of the rest of the crew.

Nick gave a smile and a small wave. "Hi, Alice, I'm Nick. And this is Aaron. He's the goofy one." Aaron gave a big, goofy wave to confirm his status.

Alice smiled. "Hi. I'm Alice." She waved, then noticed Zak's boots. "I like your boots, Mr. Zak."

Zak chuckled and kneeled down on one knee. "Thank you, Alice. I like your pony."

Alice petted the mane of her invisible pony. "His name is Rusty. He's getting pretty old, so I can't ride him as much as I used to."

Zak pretended to pet Rusty too. "But old horses are the best."

Alice giggled. "That's not Rusty. Rusty's over here!"

"Oh, here?"

"No! Here!" She giggled more, and Sandra smiled. Alice wasn't usually this friendly with strangers. Aaron elbowed Nick and made shiny eyes at him, and they both tried hard not to laugh.

Zak stood back up and asked, "Well, Sandra, Miss Alice, can we go outside so we can ask you guys a few questions on camera?"

Sandra looked down at Alice, then back at Zak and nodded. "Okay."

They went outside, and Aaron raised up his camera, which he'd kept to his side this whole time and pretended it had been turned off. Nick handed Sandra a mic, and he and Aaron gave each other raised eyebrow looks when Zak offered to help Sandra put it on. When they were ready to shoot, Zak and Sandra were both in frame so he could ask her some questions.

"Okay, we're here talking to Sandra, a new friend we've made here in Sticks." Sandra waved a little at the camera and Zak smiled. "So, Sandra, have you ever been in Marley's Hotel before?"

Sandra pursed her lips. "Umm, no, well, I've never stayed the night there before, but my friend Mindy works there part time when she's not here working at the diner. She's told me before that one night, a tenant got so scared that they just left, because they couldn't stay there until morning."

"Wow, so then it's gotta be pretty extreme there, huh?"

Sandra nodded. "Yeah I guess. That's why I never really go in there. The last time I was there, it felt really creepy, like I had to get out." Aaron angled the camera down at Alice, who was making a small mound in the dirt. "I've got a kid, and I wouldn't want to take her anywhere that bad."

Zak whistled. "So it's really, really extreme if it made you feel that way. I've gotta see this. Do you think we should go talk to Mindy?"

Sandra nodded. "Yeah, if you're going to talk to anyone, you definitely need to talk to her."

Sandra went inside the diner and convinced Mindy to come out and talk to Zak. She really acted like she didn't want to say anything. Aaron handed her a mic and told her how to put it on, and once it was operational, Zak asked if she thought Marley's Hotel was haunted. "Yeah, the place is defini'ely haun'ed, no question."

"What kinds of things have you experienced there? We heard from some people that people who stay there get pinched. Have you ever been pinched?"

Mindy nodded. "Of course. On the arm, the butt. There are some weird ghos's there." Aaron laughed a little, and she gave him the evil eye. "One morning', after a tenan' left, I was makin' their bed back up, and I went over to the dresser to make sure they hadn' left anything' in the drawers, and when I turned around, the sheets were messed up again. It scared the eva-livin' outta me."

Zak looked at the camera with a bit of shock, then back at Mindy again. "So, wait, you're telling me that you had your back turned for maybe a minute-"

"Like 30 seconds."

"30 seconds? …Wow. And when you turned around, the sheets were messed up again?"

Mindy nodded. "Like someone had already slep' in it again."

Zak was just so amazed. "Wow. So uh, who else do you think we should talk to?"

Mindy crossed her arms as she thought. "Well, you defini'ely wanna talk to the owner of Marley's Hotel, Ms. James. She'll tell you plen'y. And the banker, Chuck, he's pre'y old. He probably knows some good stories."

"Thank you Mindy, you've helped a lot," Zak said, shaking her hand. With that, she went back inside, and Zak turned to Sandra. "Now, I know you said earlier that we should probably talk to your mom, because she's lived here a long time."

Sandra nodded. "Yeah, we can go talk to her right now if you want. On the way back, we can talk to Chuck. He likes me, so he'll probably tell you more if I'm with you."

Zak smiled. "I like the sound of all that. Alright, let's go talk to your mom."

Aaron and Nick laughed a little. "She's already taking him to meet her parents…" "Yeah it must be getting serious…"

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, hope you guys liked this chapter. I know, I'm starting kinda slow, but I want to include a lot of stuff. All reviews are appreciated, unless you're telling me that I suck. That's just mean. But tell me what you think of the story so far.

This chapter was written while listening to:

"Bluebird" "Arms" and "A Thousand Years" all by Christina Perri.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

* * *

_Off Camera_

_11:50 am, Tuesday, Unspecified date_

Sandra led the way to her mother's house with Zak walking beside her and Aaron and Nick tagging along behind. Aaron would sometimes get shots of interesting looking things on the street or different buildings, and then he'd turn the camera back off. He wanted to make sure to conserve the battery.

Zak turned to Sandra, walking with his hands in his pockets. "So, I noticed you don't have an accent like everyone else here."

Sandra nodded, smiling a little. "I grew up here, but when I turned 18, I was so tired of being in such a boring place that I left. Being away from home so long, I guess the accent just left me."

"Where'd you go?" Zak was genuinely curious. He wanted to know more about Sandra, even though he knew he'd only be here a few days.

"Well," Sandra replied, starting in on her story, "I stayed in Utah for a few years, but then I met Jeff and got married. He worked on an oil rig, and when the rig he was working on dried up, we moved to Nevada. I stayed there with Jeff until he left me. I didn't want to be alone when I had Alice, so I came back here."

"How long were you away?"

"Twelve years."

Zak smiled a little. "I'd say that's long enough to lose your accent."

Sandra smiled back at him. "My mom has helped out so much with Alice. Somehow, having Alice shows that I'm not quite a failure."

"Well of course you're not a failure," Zak said a little more seriously now. "You're a single mother, and that's tough. And Alice is a really good kid." He smiled at Alice, who galloped in front of them on her imaginary horse, Rusty. "How old is she?"

"She's four."

"So, that would make you," Zak counted on his fingers in a joking way, "34 years old?"

Sandra nodded. "Bingo."

For some reason, it made Zak really happy to know that Sandra was only two years younger than him. She looked a lot younger than she actually was. Now he didn't feel as weird about the fact that he kinda liked her. "You're a really great woman, Sandra, you know that?"

She looked at him, a bit shocked to hear him say that. Was that a bit of blush on her cheeks? "Oh, well umm…thank you, Zak."

He smiled. "We all really appreciate how nice you're being. Without you, I'm pretty sure we'd all be lost."

She looked at the ground, looking a little embarrassed. "Happy to help…"

When they finally reached Sandra's mother's house, Sandra went in first with Alice to tell her mom that there were ghost hunters outside who wanted to talk to her. Sandra came back after a few minutes to tell them it was okay to come in. They all came inside, each of them making sure to kick some of the dirt off their shoes before doing so.

Sandra's mother was probably 60 something years old. Her chestnut hair had plenty of gray strands, and she wore an old grandmother dress and apron. She shook the hands of each member of GAC and then told them all to take a seat. Before Aaron sat down, he handed Sandra's mother a mic, and Sandra helped her put it on. Once they were all sat down, Aaron started filming.

* * *

_On Camera_

_12:24 pm, Tuesday, Unspecified date_

"We're here in the home of Ms. Beverly Wood, Sandra's mother and Alice's grandmother," Zak announced to the camera. "She was nice enough to invite us over to talk about Marley's Hotel." He turned to Ms. Beverly and began asking her questions. "Thank you for having us, Ms. Beverly. It seems like not a lot of people here know much of anything about Marley's Hotel."

"Tha's all lies," she remarked. "People here know its secre's, they're jus' too scared to talk, like some force from the hotel keeps 'em quiet. Nobody likes talkin' 'bout the hotel, but they all know what happens there."

"Ms. Beverly," Zak asked politely, "could you tell us the truths about Marley's Hotel?"

She nodded. "I'll tell you all tha' I can." Zak leaned in a little closer to listen as she talked. "I use' to work at that hotel, back when Sandy was jus' a little thing." Sandra looked up at her mother, too. She'd never heard this story. "That place was jus' spooky, like there was somethin' truly evil there. Sandy didn' even feel right bein' there, and she was probably too young to even remember what happened while we were there."

"Can you tell us what happened, Ms. Beverly?" Nick asked. Everyone was really enticed and slightly fascinated.

"Well," she said, leaning back in her chair and beginning to rock slowly, "I use' to be the maid there. Every day I'd dust and pick up after tenan's that had stayed the night before. No one ever stayed there for more than one night. Tha's why they had to make that new hotel - all our touris's would leave in a hurry 'cause they had no where else to sleep, and they couldn' stand Marley's Hotel."

"What was so bad about it, Ms. Beverly?" Aaron asked. He zoomed the camera in on her a little bit more.

"Everythin', son. Everythin' was wrong with that hotel. Somethin' in there that jus' isn' right with the world, like there's somethin' that isn' just angry, but somethin' evil that wants nothing' but to hurt innocen' people who try to sleep there. See, no tenan's usually had problems until it was time to go to sleep. If anything', they might see that a drawer was open that they didn' think was open before, but they' just say it was their imagination and ignore it. Or somethin' of their's would go missin', and turn up down in the lobby somehow. A lot of people though' it was jus' lil' Sandy playin' games on them, but she never left my side each day and night that I worked."

"So," Zak asked, transfixed now, "what happened to people who slept there?"

"I don't exactly know," Ms. Beverly answered. "But it never failed, some few hours after they'd gone to sleep, they'd be gettin' up and packin' their things and high-tailin' it outta there, sayin' somethin' 'bout there bein' a crazy evil livin' in that hotel, and it didn' want anyone else sleepin' in its beds."

"Wow…" Zak was a mixture of super excited and a little frightened. "So we're in for quite a night when we investigate there, huh?"

Ms. Beverly looked a little shocked. "You're still goin'? Af'er all I jus' said? And you're goin' at night?" She started to rock again. "You're a fool if I' ever seen one."

Zak and the others laughed a little. "Yeah, that's us," Nick replied, "a big group of ghost hunting fools."

* * *

_Off Camera_

_1:13 pm, Tuesday, Unspecified date_

As Zak and the others left Ms. Beverly's house, Sandra walked out with them, arms crossed lightly. Aaron and Nick walked ahead a little to look at the footage they'd just captured. Zak turned to Sandra. "Sandra," he said, "I just really want to thank you and your family for how much you've helped us. I really think this is probably going to be the best lockdown we've ever done."

Sandra waved a hand, smiling a little. "It's no trouble, really. It's not like I've got anything better to do." She straightened the skirt of her sundress, occupying herself otherwise.

"Well, umm, I might just be being selfish here, but I wondered if you could help us out a little more." Zak wasn't sure if he was asking this because she was so helpful, or because he just didn't want to say goodbye to her yet.

"And what's that?" Sandra asked, putting a hand on her hip.

"I was wondering if you'd come on the lockdown with us."

Sandra was quiet for a moment as she thought about it. "I'm actually a little confused. Can you explain what a 'lockdown' is?"

Zak laughed a little when he realized he hadn't even told her what that was this whole time. "Well, we go to these haunted places, and we interview the owner, and we get them to agree to lock us in the building from when the sun goes down until it rises again the next morning." At this point, Sandra frowned, looking doubtful. "Then we just spend the whole night investigating and getting whatever we can on camera. The only reason we want them to lock the door is to prove we're not bringing anyone else in with us, like actors that can pretend to be ghosts or anything. It's just us and the ghosts for a whole night."

Sandra rubbed her arm, looking a little frightened. "Oh, I don't know Zak. Can't that get dangerous? Not having anyway out?"

He smiled. "If you're asking if we've ever been attacked by a ghost, no. We just hear voices and footsteps and sometimes things move. We've never been really attacked on any of our lockdowns." Zak was bending the truth a little. He could remember instances where people got scratched, but nothing life threatening. "And besides, you'd have me, Nick, and fry sauce boy to protect you. We're pros at this; we've been doing it for years. I promise you that I won't let anything hurt you."

Zak seemed genuine, and Sandra believed him. She gave a small nod. "Okay."

That made Zak really smile. "Thank you so much, Sandra." He started to walk away then turned back. "Oh, right. Can I have your phone number?"

Sandra looked a little surprised. "My phone number?"

Zak smiled. "You do have one of those, don't you?"

"Well, yeah," she nodded, "it just seems a little upfront for you to be asking me for it so soon."

Zak was confused for a second, then he laughed pretty hard, almost blushing a little. "No, no, Sandra, not like that. I need it so I can call you with the confirmation time and with any information you might need."

"Oh," Sandra actually did blush a little, for sure this time, "well, umm, yeah, hang on." She went back inside for a minute, probably to get a pen.

Zak smiled to himself, thinking it was a little cute how Sandra reacted. _'Well, at least I know she's not interested in me,'_ Zak thought, a little gloom.

Sandra came back after a minute with her phone number written down on a tiny, torn piece of paper. "Now, that first number is my home phone, but if I'm not there, call the second number, and that'll get you my mother."

Zak nodded, giving a playful salute with the hand that had the paper. "Will do. Thank you again, Sandra." Then he walked off to join the other members of his crew, who teased him about having Sandra's phone number. "Really guys? Grow up."

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, now this chapter's over! Hehe… Anyway, I hope you guys are liking this story so far. Please send me any of your thoughts, unless they're completely rude. Or if you have thoughts about killing your teacher. Then you should probably see a psychiatrist. But yeah, I love getting reviews, so, send 'em in. And I'm sorry to anyone that lives in Utah if I'm misrepresenting you. I've only been to Utah once, and I didn't stay there long, so I just went online and tried to learn about what accents people there had and what they ate and how they acted. So don't blame me, blame Google! Anyway, bye kiddos, hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	4. New Policies Letter

Dearest Reader,

Thank you for taking the time to look at this message. This message is to tell you about the new procedures that will go along with all of my stories.

Due to the sheer amount of stories I've began to write (new ideas just keep coming to me, so I have to keep making new stories) I have a lot of different options to choose from, and it's quite hard to pick which story needs to be updated the fastest. So, I've devised a new system that helps everyone get what they want.

Every Tuesday, starting yesterday (10/8/13), a new poll will be uploaded onto my profile. Through this poll, you will select which story you want to be updated next. The next Monday will be the last day to vote, and at the end of the voting day - I've judged that a good time to close voting would be 5:00 pm - the poll will close, and whichever story with the most votes will have a new chapter the next day.

This plan will help to keep me more organized, and all of my readers will have a better voice in what they want. You can vote for stories that are already in progress, or new stories that I haven't even started on yet. If you're unsure of what a story is about, or you think you might remember, but you're not quite sure, I urge you to swing by my profile (most likely you'll already be there anyway) because I will have a brief description of each story there, either in progress or new.

It is very important that if you take interest in one of my stories, you continue to vote on the polls to have it updated. If no votes are cast, then no stories will be updated. This is why voting is so important. One of the stories - any of them, it doesn't matter which - has to get at least one vote, or there will be no chapter at all that week.

Some weeks, such as during the holidays, I will not be able to upload new chapters. This is a minor inconvenience (I don't have internet at home, so I have to upload chapters at school, which is also why I've been on hiatus for so long.) Hopefully, it will only last until I can go to college in the Fall of 2014. The dorms there have free wi-fi, so it will be guaranteed that a new chapter will be uploaded every week.

That being said, I will try my hardest to send out an email, apologizing for the dilemma, and the selected chapter will be uploaded and soon as possible.

I thank you, again, for reading this email. If you have any questions, please feel free to message me. I would also like to thank you for taking an interest in my story or stories. All of my readers are important to me. Please, start voting!

-Leana-Vine

PS: I'm sorry that I had to send the message out this way. I tried to send it to all of my readers individually, but, that didn't work. The only person I was able to send it to was BlueTigerTime. Please forgive me, and, if you'd like, proceed to my profile, where you may begin casting your votes.


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